Press
release
Contact:
Julie Mushet (415) 474-3925
julie@worldartswest.org
28th Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
Opening Night Gala Raises over $36,000 to support World Arts West
Saturday, June 10, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO-- The Palace of Fine Arts Theatre was filled to
capacity on Saturday evening, June 10th as world dancers and musicians
in this year’s San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival mingled
with event producer World Arts West’s Board members, supporters
and donors, including Consul Generals from over fourteen
countries represented in the Festival. Three hundred people attended the
celebratory Opening Night Gala of this year’s SOLD
OUT 3-weekend Festival, enjoying delicious food and beverages from over a dozen
Bay Area restaurants, a silent auction, and a festive live auction
emceed by KGO personality Cheryl Jennings, which raised
over $36,000 in support of the efforts of World Arts West.
The Opening Night Gala featured stellar performances by eleven
Bay Area dance companies, representing a range of cultures including
Mexican, Korean, Tajik, Afro-Peruvian and Egyptian, as well as
the presentation by the former Mayor of San Francisco,
Willie Brown, of the Malonga Casquelourd Lifetime Achievement Award
to Patrick
Makuakāne, Kumu Hula/Director for the dynamic San Francisco based
Hawaiian dance company, Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu. He is the fourth
recipient of this prestigious award, established in 2003 to honor
Bay Area dancers who have served as visionaries and whose dancing
and teaching has enriched the lives of thousands. Makuakāne’s
company, well known for his innovative choreography and blending
of traditional hula movements with non-Hawaiian music, marked the
occasion with a particularly beautiful performance choreographed
to Roberta Flack’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your
Face.’
Each year, World Arts West—a non-profit organization that
creates unique opportunities to see and experience the dance and
music traditions of the world—needs to raise over $600,000
to make the extraordinary Festival happen, the largest and most
prestigious gathering of its kind in the country. The Opening Night
Gala serves as the major fundraising event towards these efforts.
Auction items bringing in some of the highest sales that night
were two round-trip tickets to India donated by Air India, a Bhangra
dance party donated by dance company Dohlrhythms, dinner for thirty
at the Phillipine Center donated by the Phillipine Consul General,
a day at Jordan Winery, a tour of City Hall with Mayor Gavin Newsom,
and lunch with Mayor Willie Brown and Wilkes Bashford.
World Arts West Board President Diane Goldsmith welcomed the creative
crowd and thanked event Chair Julia Cheng, Auction Chair
Susan Somaya, and Fundraising Chair Sherée Chambers for their
tireless efforts and dedication. With San Francisco being the epicenter
of ethnic dance in the United States—outranking Los Angeles,
Miami and even New York for the incredible pool of internationally
renowned dancers and choreographers that now live and work in the
Bay Area—the Festival is an unparalleled opportunity to see
many of these performers at one venue. It is also a fascinating
way to experience both the diversity and commonality between cultures.
World Arts West has been presenting and promoting the dance and
music traditions of the world since 1978, creating opportunities
for individuals and communities to celebrate, share, and sustain
the vitality of ethnic dance. Their work promotes the importance
of cultural heritage for strengthening community and building cultural
understanding.
For more information about World Arts West, visit www.worldartswest.org.
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